This article is timely. How many times have situations escalated to and beyond the point of insanity until finally someone was hurt or even killed? Miscavige is turning up the heat and playing a game of brinkmanship now spilling over into city streets, airport terminals and parking lots. Ignorant tools like Michael Doven are weened on a steady diet of lies from David Miscavige and Tommy Davis. In the phone call that Marty recorded today, Michael Doven said, "At what point did you decide, 'Now I'm going to f--king DESTROY them all?" Later he said, "I gotta tell you, you must know by now that probably isn't not too popular... That tells you where I stand." The reality of seven people ambushing Mike Rinder in Florida and physically restraining him, followed by 20 people ambushing Marty in Texas screams out for law and order. 

When Marty asked Michael if he'd seen his website, Michael Doven said he'd read "parts of it." That's the second time I've heard that in a week. Someone calling herself "Diana Dubin" told me the same thing a few days ago in a series of hostile emails, while asking me questions that were so ignorant my conclusion was that she was either Type III or had never SEEN my website (since two of her answers would be answered on the home page). Her answer was the same as Michael Doven's -- that she had "read a couple of things... don't remember." They don't even know what they read. Translation: OSA printed off a page or two of my site or Marty's site and that is what they were hand fed to read. Some portion totally taken out of context. As a result of this one sided "briefing" we had people getting violent against whistle blowers.

In 2002, I experienced a similar incident that Back to Life describes in this, her second article. Miscavige came to CMU complaining that "nobody produces anything" but him. He asked me what products I had produced recently. I told him I had created all the promotion for the Married Couple film ("Can honesty repair what secrets destroy?") that had just been released. The marketing included a brand new website that I wrote (since taken down by the Church) for Scientology Marriage Counseling and other services related to saving marriages. I was proud of the marketing because it was first rate, by far the best the subject had ever received. Miscavige looked at me and said, "No, you won't do what I want done." I was dumbfounded. Apparently what LRH wanted was not what Miscavige wanted, and I was supposed to side with Miscavige. He said, "That campaign wasn't what I wanted. It's not on any of my priorities. You refuse to do what I want done!" - Thoughtful

IN REFERENCE TO MARTY'S BLOG AND MENTION OF "JONESTOWN"

I recently came across a blog post where someone mentioned the atrocity of the assault on Mike Rinder the other day. They also commented on a mention by Marty concerning Jonestown. The blogger felt  Marty's comparison was harsh. It's not the least bit harsh. Be it Jonestown,  DM's "Scientology" or any other similarly gone-off-the-rails religion, it is important to understand the frame of mind of these people. They will do what DM says and it does not matter how insane, they will invent a reason that it is the "greatest good."  Just imagine that DM just flew at least 7 people from LA to Florida to go and yell at Mike at a parking lot. Pretty bizarre, huh? Today we find out that no less than some 20 people were flown to Texas by DM to stop someone from leaving the Church. So the insanity is escalating rapidly into desperation and desperate people are dangerous.

I'm writing this to show how seemingly small things , indicators, were present a long time ago. They seemed fairly trivial at the time. Now they suddenly make sense for what they are -- signs of a megalomaniac at the top. But mostly I am writing it to support Marty's statement about the severity of the situation.

I remember an incident that occurred when I was fairly green in RTC. DM walked though the org with his Inspector Generals and spoke to each staff member. He asked us,  "If I told you to run down to the lake on the property and throw yourself down the waterfall (it was made up of rocks) and into the murky water right now - would you do it for me?" It was fall. We were still in  white uniforms.  There was no purpose to the action as opposed to, say,  saving someone from drowning . The whole  idea was  bizarre to most of us. Like a test to see if we were idiots. So most of us said, "No, Sir."  A little while later, Marc Yager (then IG Admin) called us together. He was very stern  and said that DM had just found the Why for RTC. We were a pack of un-dedicated, insubordinate creeps who only thought about ourselves and would not follow Command Intention.  I remember this moment so clearly because it's the first time I thought, "Is this for  real?"  I remembered LRH writing something about slavishly following orders and not thinking for oneself. What happened to that?

Another incident occurred when I had just arrived to post in RTC. You know, I had settled in, gotten a desk and all and DM came stomping in with his wife Shelly and came up to me. "Whose orders do you implement, who do you work for?".  "L.Ron.Hubbard!" I said merrily, thinking that I couldn't possibly go wrong with that answer. DM stomped out in disgust. Shelly stayed behind. "Your answer is wrong. You're in RTC. You work for COB. It's your only purpose." I was baffled. It was right there on my org board as my post purpose -- enforcing Ron's policies.

Little did I know that this was but a slight indication of what was to come. But that is why I am writing it up. It all started with smaller things, almost like jokes, little tests, making examples of people, getting mad. Then it got worse with corporal punishment, sleep deprivation, cruelty, etc. But one can ask, for what? What was he trying to beat into us? What was this submissiveness he was trying to achieve? He always said that he was trying to make us care about Scientology, expand it, etc.  But after a while it made no sense. Anyone knows (even torturers or dog trainers!) that by cracking someone's will you render them less capable and less responsible.

DM was after something else. He said many times that the beingness of everyone at Int was wrong. In RTC the beingness was supposed to be "Cold Chrome Steel." People interpreted it in different ways but  I can tell you that some of the most unpleasant, cold, cruel and heartless people I have ever met worked directly with DM. But were they really, or were they just trained to act that way? There is no doubt that he expected us to be mean and I definitely did my share of mean things. But I still didn't fit the bill in terms of that "ideal staff member" DM wanted us to be and he constantly called me weak, soft and reasonable.

So there was this "ideal staff member" who was good looking, dedicated only to Scientology and nothing else, needed no sleep to function, had no feelings for family or children, operated on a tone-level of no sympathy, had no personality and never did anything wrong -- and who no one could exemplify. And DM's constant frustration was that no one was like that ... only him.  The sad truth is that this is an artificial valence that DM made up that doesn't exist, totally devoid of affinity, reality or communication. A robot, in other words.

One time DM had heard that a staff member had complained that  my senior had been yelling . He came down with his personal staff entourage and told her to repeat the yelling with the worst ferocity she could muster up. She did. She even shoved a staff member into a wall.  DM responded to the demonstration by throwing fits of laughter and asked his staff how that compared to what they had to put up with. They answered that her yelling was nothing in comparison. He ordered the Correction Officer to "toughen her up."

The result of all this in RTC was an extremely poor working environment where people were yelling at each other constantly, petrified of DM, shaking in their boots as he entered a room and incapable of making decision out of fear that "he" would disapprove. DM was often referred to in a whispering voice as "he". "He" is coming, "he" was here.  When he came through the org he used to randomly pick on staff, sometimes just by looking at them: "he's got witholds" or "that guy is disaffected with me". The people remaining in the room after he left would pile onto the individual, yelling, shoving or whatnot to make him "come clean." The fact is that he wanted people to react to him like that. He would ask Lou, his communicator, in meetings: "What do staff do when I come into a room?"  And she would go "Oh, they are petrified, they salute with both hands" and he would laugh smugly as if it were an incredible compliment.

There are instances where toughness is required. But there's a huge difference between that and simply being nasty, mean and cruel to people. And there was abundant cruelty  at the Int Base and DM set the example for all. Things like constantly nagging Guillame and Marc saying that they were gay, heckling people for being overweight (Norman Starkey and Lyman Spurlock), reading people's sexual episodes from confessionals aloud in front of large groups, making mock dolls of people (Heber and Mike Rinder), making staff salute his dog (with shoulder boards), making people clean septic tanks with their bare hands and many more. These were not actions intended to help anyone or make them better executives. They were evil, plain and simple, intended to make them feel as bad as possible. His language lacked no modifiers to describe various staff in meetings and briefings: loser, degraded being, faggot, creep, pervert, scum, slut, c..t, c..k-sucker and many more. And after a while people start believing it.

Another way you can try to crack a human being is by restricting his freedom so much that he utterly depends on the "captor" for any survival. One way this was done by DM is by systematically canceling any times of joy or supposed relaxation. No family time, no liberty, no Xmas celebration, no New Years celebration, no Sea Org celebration, no 4th of July celebration, no marriages, were all orders that came out of DMs office. So in the end all that was left was to get up after 3 hours sleep and work. DM knew that no one would dare to cancel any of his orders . They therefore stayed in place forever. For instance, liberty was cancelled in 1992 and as far as I understand they still don't have it. So that's 18 years.  Of course it's not beneficial to production. Then he would issue small "teasers" of freedom such as awarding someone with 1/2 day off after an event. He would then complain in meetings that he was the "only one" doing something for the staff. How bizarre. You wonder why these people that work for DM seem strangely pale and dead? Much like vampires they have not really seen they light of day much the last 20 years. They sit in offices all day long, in-fighting, doping off and trying to work out things to please DM. They've been doing it for so long that time is just a blur and the seasons float in and out of each other like a long stream of noise.

They have been through 20-30 years of badgering and threats. On and off. But DM always comes back to those "favorite" people who he loves to badger, punish and belittle with more. Something that is "really going to crack them" this time.  Some of those favorites wised up and escaped and those are the people you now see in the news and on the front lines speaking out. As far as those who are still there, God only knows what is going on inside their heads. Their souls are turning into black coal as the years go by. But I am sure that some of them are also carefully planning an escape, knowing that they will have to outsmart some 20 people who will be sent to hunt them down.

Some have long since stopped feeling compassion for others. Their feelings have either died completely or they are terrified that anyone will find out that they still have them, so suppress them the best they can. They are frantically, every day trying to be that "ideal staff member" that DM wants . They believe that people like Marty and Mike are better off dead than alive (Yes, they do, it's the truth).

It is extremely important that this not be overlooked, justified or ignored, not just for the sake of Scientology but because it is inhuman. There were indicators like that at Jonestown, Waco and every other cult that cost innocent lives.  And no human being should ever have to be treated like that. I have written this in the hopes of trying to make real the frame of mind those people (Cathy Rinder, Jenny Linson, Guillaume, Norman, et al) are in. Why they have dark circles under their eyes and froth around their mouths. Why they seem cold and distant. And why Marty is dead-on when he talks about Jonestown. It's not that everyone will literally drink poisoned Kool-Aid. It's that this cruelty, violence and insanity will inevitably wind up with a very bad end. It started small and is only getting worse.  You've got people like Marty, Mike, Steve, et al who are openly speaking out and taking the brunt of the harassment. Then you've got people like myself who are writing anonymously because I am still too afraid that DMs henchmen will hurt people I love dearly. Somehow that's better than doing nothing though and there are others who can confirm these horror stories of violence and humiliation. Please do. It really matters.

-- Back To Life

Within hours after this article was posted, a new whistle blower decided to come forward, ALIVE AND WELL, who has written an article confirming what is written here and elsewhere throughout this website. Click here to read "Violence, humiliation and torture in RTC." - Thoughtful